personavelvetroomdr | The Silence After the Storm

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The Silence After the Storm

The Ken Amada who made certain threats, whom Igor didn't bring to the Velvet Room and didn't welcome, has been permanently contained within his other-world self. Many of the Velvet Room residents mobilized in the effort to neutralize the threat he posed, and now, in the moments after the devastating battle that sealed Ken away, perhaps you have business to conclude.

Maybe you're a fighter, left in the rubble the battle made of its surroundings—or maybe you were a noncombatant this time, left behind to wonder what's happening or prepare for the aftermath. Maybe you linger around the battle site, or maybe you have other things to do.

Or maybe you didn't survive. Maybe you're one of the glowing forms slowly coalescing in front of Igor's desk in the Velvet Room over the course of the subsequent half hour. Igor presides over them gravely, with no sign of his usual smile. Near his desk sits a box of snacks, familiar to anyone who's used the operation's training room.

[[ooc: This post is a general catch-all for the aftermath of the battle! It's backdated to February 26, the day Ken got got.]]

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"Blood."

Dammit, where are the blood juice boxes?! Ren didn't have any on him and he's having some trouble spotting any in the snacks box.

His visions blurs for a second. That's not good.

Yeah, that tracks, actually, now that he thinks about it.

"I think we still had some in the training room cooler. Can you hang tight for, like... twenty seconds?"

Ren forces himself to nod.

He can feel his mind starting to get foggy, but he's trying to hang on. The last thing anyone needs is for him to physically attack someone. Especially after what just happened.

"Cool."

Rather than waste more time talking, he hurries to the training room, extremely glad it's so easily accessible from the Velvet Room. He grabs the three blood juice boxes left in the cooler, which is... actually, he doesn't know whether it's a whole lot or not nearly enough. Either way, he's about to find out. He heads back into the Velvet Room and plops down in front of vampire Ren again. Eighteen seconds. Not bad.

"Here. If you need more, I can run out and grab them."

Ren quickly grabs one of them and manages to focus enough to get the straw through and start drinking.

Already just one helps a lot and clears the stomach pain. He does drink the other two as well. He sighs once he's done.

"That's much better. Thanks."

At least his head feels clear again.

"No problem. Do you need anything else?"

He feels an unaccustomed itch to be useful. Vampire Ren died under his leadership; the least he can fucking do is fetch... who knows what. A blanket or something.

Edited 2025-03-04 05:08 (UTC)

"Not that I can think of." He has pain killers at home if he needs them.

At least he lasted quite a while. It just so happened that he got unlucky. And may have ended up covering others in his blood while he died. Maybe.

"Okay, then." He props his chin in his hand, watching the gears turn. "Anything else on your mind?"

"Well, I gotta say. Even though having my head blown off sucked, at least it was a quick death. We did manage to win in the end, right?"

Because if they still lost against Evil Ken, that would actually make him upset.

"Oh. Shit, I should've led with that, after the blood. Yeah, he's sealed inside Nox for good. We did it."

To be fair, the blood was more pressing. Especially since he was in danger of becoming dangerously hungry. And that would have been bad.

The vampire sighs in relief. "Good."

At least it was worth it.

"Yeah, no kidding." He weighs his words, discarding an apology. "We needed everyone we had. We couldn't have done it without you. So, thanks."

"No problem." Ren resists the urge to say he hopes it doesn't happen again, because that would be jinxing it. Plus he knows that's not how it works.

"The training really did pay off for what it's worth."

Though sadly he never did manage to make himself fly on his own power, so he had to settle with using his personas to help keep afloat when he wasn't using his floating ability.

At least he's got a lot more stamina now when it comes to his personas.

"Yeah." He thinks back on his training with Nox. It was brutal and punishing, and he would've died five times without it. "Nox was the real MVP there. Once he's used to having that fucker locked inside him, I wanna do something to thank him."

"I agree. Kid has a lot of bravery making that kind of sacrifice, and everything else he did. I would make suggestions, but I don't know him that well. Maybe Raven will have a better idea."

He knows that those two are friends at least.

"Actually, yeah, good idea. I've worked with him now, but I don't know him otherwise. He seemed pretty... you know. Serious. But maybe it was just the situation."

The fuck does a kid that age even want? Ren wanted... food, mostly, and weapons. And for everyone to fuck off. But he wasn't the chosen vessel of a death god.

"He did come off as a very serious kid in general. Likely had to grow up way too damn fast."

Most kids would want toys, games, basically what you would expect kids in normal families to desire. But Ken's clearly not a normal kid, nor in a normal situation. Ren can't even begin to guess what the kid would actually want.

"I guess either of us can ask Raven later about it." He's not sure if Raven will feel well enough for that.

Actually come to think of it... did Raven survive or was he also a victim?

"Did Raven make it through the fight or do we need to wait for him to revive too?"

Even the thought of Raven dying makes Ren draw back in alarm. "Fuck. No, don't worry about him, he's fine. Just tired. Can you imagine if he actually..." He can't quite bring himself to say the word died to vampire Ren. "You can tell that didn't happen because Magpie didn't murder me in revenge."

No one would forgive Ren if that happened to Raven, and he wouldn't deserve forgiveness. Shit. What a concept.

Ren relaxes at this. Thank gods Raven survived.

"No kid should have to suffer death, even with this place having death be temporary."

Hell, he was 16 when he died the first time, but Raven's like 14 or somewhere around that age.

"I'll have to check on him later."

"Good idea... I was planning to do that, but I think I'm actually just gonna pass out when I get home." His brain hurts. His head hurts; his entire body feels leaden and heavy. The adrenaline is finally starting to wear off.

"Getting some rest would be a good idea. We all deserve it after everything."

Ren's certainly not planning on leaving his apartment for a while. He needs a break quite frankly.

"Yeah. You're not fucking kidding." He allows himself a single, deep sigh. "You gonna be okay getting home? Need some more blood first, anything like that?"

"I think that should tide me over until I can get back to my apartment."

Ren's real glad he made sure to stock up on blood juice boxes 'cause he's going to stay at home for at least a few days. So he can rest up and not need to put on sunscreen for a while.

"Cool." He stands up and stretches, wincing as what feels like every joint he has pops loudly. "I need to check on the others. Text me if you need anything, yeah?"

Oof, that sounds painful. He'd offer to heal it, but he doesn't have the energy to do so.

"Sure." He should get going too.

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The Silence After the Storm

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